Visitors discovering boathouse designed by Wright, supporters say

Two years after it opened, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fontana Boathouse is beginning to fulfill its potential as a tourist destination, advocates say.

At first, the waterfront location — well off the beaten path on Black Rock Channel — was not trumpeted to travelers. The facility, which Wright had designed more than a century earlier for the University of Wisconsin, did not even have a phone.

But visitors from all over the globe are finding their way to the distinctive structure, the volunteer group that built it reported Tuesday.

After accepting a $250,000 state grant obtained by State Sen. William T. Stachowski, D-Lake View, that will help pay off construction debt and start an endowment, Sharon Courtin, executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rowing Boathouse Corp., noted that hundreds of people from 20 states and from nations as distant as England and Australia have come this year for a look-see.